The 2016 Presidential Race Explained

Any questions??

Call Me Cassandra?

Cassandra of Troy, as the legend goes, was given a true gift of prophecy by the gods...who, being fickle, also gave her the curse that no one would believe her. I can identify with that.

In 2008, I thought that John McCain was probably the worst candidate in the primaries. Sure, Huckabee gave him a run for the title, but McCain, who was not a fiscal conservative, and one of the original Keating Five, became the Republican candidate. I supported him in the general election, because he was a better man than the candidate the Democrats fielded (who wasn't?), and he lost to Barack Obama.

In 2012, I thought that Mitt Romney was the worst possible choice in the primaries. Obamacare was disliked by a majority of the electorate at the time, and the worst possible person to make the case against Obamacare was the author of Romneycare. Mitt was a moderate, trying to sound like a conservative, but failing at it rather badly.I supported him, too, in the general election, because he was a better man than the candidate the Democrats fielded (who wasn't?), who had proven himself inadequate to the job of being president (as he has continued to this day), and he lost to Barack Obama.

In 2016, I thought that Donald J. Trump was the worst possible choice in the primaries. (Are you starting to see a pattern here?) Barring some unforeseen miracle or the SMOD, Trump will become the Republican nominee. Barring the gift of a spine to Obama and his Justice Department, Hillary will be his opponent. (I almost said "running mate". I keep forgetting which side he's supposed to be on!)

She is a venal liar who apparently is the author of most of Obama's failed Middle East policies. She underestimated Putin, the Muslim Brotherhood and her horndog husband and overestimated her cleverness as a politician, money launderer, and her ability to hide her correspondence without compromising national security.

I would never vote for Hillary, and the thought of her in the Ovum Office is enough to make one's skin crawl. However, I believe that there are already a large number of people who feel exactly the same way about Donald J. Trump, even before he expressed his lunatic ideas about Ted Cruz's father and Lee Harvey Oswald. Dude. You were winning! Why in the world are you incapable of just keeping your big mouth shut when the occasion calls for it?

In addition to those who already feel this way, Democrat and Republican alike, I believe there are vast numbers yet to be persuaded to this opinion, but who will be.


So, there you have it! I feel as though I'm about to hit the presidential trifecta, and I'm not happy about it one bit. Should the White House, possibly the Senate and SCOTUS all tilt Left in the next four to eight years, there will be no comfort in saying "I told you so". Not that it would do any good. I'm convinced that should this election "go South", Trump supporters will blame everyone except their candidate (and themselves). Like Obama blaming Bush for the last eight years, it will never be the Donald's fault. No, of course not. That would be too obvious!

Most Interesting Man in the World Leaves for Mars

Think maybe he has some inside information on the 2016 election we don't have??

What the Democrat Nominee in 2016 Hasn't Got...

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Bernie Sanders and the Millennials

"Alas, poor Karl! I knew him well!"
Saw a story over at Maggie's Notebook about Millennials going ga-ga for Bernie Sanders. I believe the gist of her post was that they were enamored of all the free stuff: free healthcare, free college education...the list goes on. But, I wonder if anyone has really told them about the cost: not tax dollars, per se, but lifestyle changes from what they already have?

Mr. Sanders, for example, was appalled by the wide variety of deodorants he saw on a store shelf.

“You don’t necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country.”

23? That's just sprays. You also have a choice of solid stick or roll ons, scented, unscented and extra strength! And by "sneakers", the fifties called, Mr. Sanders. They'd like their terminology back!

By "sneakers" did you mean tennis shoes, basketball shoes, cross trainers, or running shoes? Or is it just all those different colors that disturb you? Why should you have comfortable shoes that match your every outfit when you could have a US government approved pair of US Keds, in black, for every occasion?

Part of the beauty of freedom is that if you think that you have a better formula for deodorant, or idea for a way to apply it, or a design for the package that will make people want to buy it, even though it is identical to all the rest, you are free to do so. You can put your own capital at risk, and/or convince other people that your idea or product is superior, and will give you , and them, a return on your money. What's wrong with that?

And what Mr. Socialist Sanders fails to recognize is that in the process of giving the American people (and sometimes the world) another, possibly better option, is that each of those 23 spray deodorant companies is employing people to make their product. They are buying raw materials from suppliers, purchasing real estate and hiring contractors to build their factories, paying taxes to state, local and federal governments to provide the services their communities require. They are buying office supplies and furniture and paying salaries to people who also pay taxes to state, local and federal governments, to pay for defense, safe food and drugs, highways, etc. Oh, and even welfare for the "children who are hungry in this country".

Meanwhile, we have the choice of buying spray or stick, scented or unscented, Mountain Fresh or Spice, Nikes or Addidas, New Balance or Skechers, cross trainer or deck shoe, black or white, blue or gray or whatever. And as long as the people who make these products can keep a majority of their customers satisfied, what business is it of Bernie Sanders to yell, "You kids get off my lawn!"? Sorry! "You kids don't need all this variety of stuff?"

In my humble opinion, if you really want millennials to run screaming from Mr. Sanders, just see if he would apply the same standard to their phones as he does to deodorant? Why do you need a Galaxy Five or LG, or iPhone 6 or 6s and all the rest when children are going hungry?? Let the state decide for you what the best phone is and let the state limit your choices so you aren't wasting precious resources on stuff you really want instead of what the state thinks is best for you?

Actually, Uncle Bernie already has the phone in mind for you! It weighs about ten pounds, it's black, and comes conveniently wired to the wall so you won't lose it all the time, so you can cancel that pesky phone insurance! Your texting charges will drop to zero, and kids... you'll get used to that rotary dial in no time!



Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Ben Carson: What a Nice Guy!

Ben Carson is a nice guy. Almost everybody will cop to that. A nice guy, a decent guy...that and fifty cents will get you a cup of really cheap coffee, but not necessarily an all expense paid trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!

Case in point: he was interviewed this AM by Chris Wallace for Fox News Sunday. Wallace was trying to pin him down on his no fly zone idea for Syria, which sounded an awful lot like a readiness to start a shooting war with Russia. After an answer which was unsatisfactory (to me at least), Carson launches into a little mini lecture about humans having 'big frontal lobes' and lower animals having 'fixed brain stems', which is the reason why we can reason rather than react.

It sounded pedantic, to say the least, and completely acceptable, if it were coming from your college prof, leaning against his desk, filling time until the class bell rings. Sounding like the next leader of the free world? Not so much.

But have I mentioned he's really a nice, decent and moral guy??

Somewhere in the 100 Acre Wood, Under the Name of Sanders...

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Waiting for the Donald

Waiting for Godot, the play by Samuel Beckett, had characters waiting endlessly and fruitlessly for the arrival of someone named "Godot". Spoiler alert:  Godot never shows. Was he real? Was Godot a symbol of something else? God maybe? Unfulfilled aspirations? The genre of "Godot" is sometimes referred to as "theater of the absurd". It is a play in two acts, and it is my understanding that some theater companies perform the second act first and it in no wise detracts from the point of the play, nor can the audience generally tell the difference!

Well, you might ask, "How could this possibly apply to Donald Trump? He is ubiquitous and if anything, the complaint is that he won't go away!" That's the candidate Trump. As a candidate, he is indeed ubiquitous. But on substance? Not so much. Lots of sizzle, not much steak. As a candidate, Trump appeals to the dissatisfaction of conservatives with the mainstream Republican party. Every election it seemed, the Republicans have begged conservatives for their votes, in exchange for promises that they would decrease the size and scope of government and reduce spending, only to  repeatedly break those promises. Trump has tapped into that vein of discontent, much of which has fueled the Tea Party and propelled it to prominence in recent years. He's making promises that he most likely will not be able to keep, but talking a good fight. Personally, I'm waiting for the substantive Trump.

Now I will admit the possibility that my perception of Trump may have been colored in part by selective reporting in the media. Most of what I hear Trump saying is how good his poll numbers were compared to everybody else. (That ship has largely sailed). Now you hear him dismissing the polls as insignificant, now that he no longer leads them. I hear childish, schoolyard insults from him, whining about how Carson was criticizing his religion, followed by a cheap shot at Carson for Carson's Adventist faith. Go figure.

Now, if you're a Trump fan, you've probably only read down this far to try to find a hole in my reasoning that you can use with which to beat me over the head. Fine. But treat Mr. Trump the way you would any other candidate for a moment and ask yourself, "Is he the real deal?"

His plan to build a wall on the southern border and "have Mexico pay for it", do you really believe that? Sending immigrants north is a source of income for Mexico, as immigrants legal and not send cash back to the relatives they left behind. Net benefit. Sending or encouraging criminals, malcontents and the uneducated poor north of the border, acts as a pressure relief valve on their society. Net benefit. Where is the incentive for the Mexican government to cut themselves off from all the benefits of northern migration and then, on top of that, pay for the privilege of doing so?
I don't think so.

In another place last week, (Donald Trump and the Spending Cuts of Doom), we examined whether or not Mr. Trump's suggested slashing of certain cabinet level departments, was realistic or even consistent with the separation of powers available to him as president.

Consider too, Trump's a propensity to take credit where no credit is due. Conservatives have been arguing about and fighting illegal immigration for decades. After Trump got in trouble over a poorly worded statement about illegal immigrants, he repeated said, "We wouldn't be talking about illegal immigration if it wasn't for me". Really? That's borderline delusional.

Recently, he's been claiming credit for the move of a Ford automobile plant from Mexico to Ohio. Only it appears the John Kasich may have negotiated that move with Ford back in 2011. If this is true, and his business career is as fabulous as he says, why would he feel the need to embellish it, taking credit for things he had no control over?

Is it to much to ask him to put forth detailed reasons to elect him based on principle and proposals that don't involve, "Trust me. I may not know what I'm talking about, but I'll surround myself with people who do, because that's what good businessmen do." Or the braggadocio of how much more than his rivals he will know by the time the inauguration rolls around.

Trump's message appeals to the Zeitgeist of the Right, with a little bit of "We're mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore" thrown in for good measure. Although the office of the president is sometimes referred to as America's C.E.O., there's a very different skill set involved. I sometimes hear the argument for Trump (and Carson, too) that George Washington was not a politician before he became president either, implying that therefore he's equally qualified. The analogy might be like those who say if you're going to fail math like Einstein did (he didn't, by the way), that it helps to be Albert Einstein. Mr. Trump: you're no George Washington.

Trump recently said, "I will be a great unifier for our country". So far, it seems like all he has had time to alienate are Hispanics and Seventh Day Adventists. Give him time! In 2008, there was a candidate who said something similar. He said all the right things*. He talked a good fight, 'unifying the nation along racial lines', promising fiscal responsibility, and budget cuts. Senator Obama promised to go through the budget line by line to eliminate waste fraud and corruption. He claimed to be a moderate candidate who believed that marriage was between a man and a woman, professed to be a Christian, and presumably would uphold traditional Christian values. A candidate who promised to bring jobs, heal the economy and heal the divide between America and the world community.

All hat. No cattle.

How's that working out for you?





*The mask slipped a bit with "Joe the plumber". But there were those of us who saw through the disguise.




Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Hillary's Recycled Chic

The Trouble With Trump, Part XXIII

Donald Trump appears to have a very limited knowledge of and/or shallow understanding of the Keystone XL pipeline, what it will do and what it will mean. Listen to what he says at about the two minute twenty second mark:

"I hope we don't need the pipeline, 'cause it comes out of Canada".

There are probably three things (or more) wrong with this statement. One, it's not just Canadian oil, but oil from our own Bakken range in the Dakotas, as well, that could be more easily and safely transported. Underline "safely". Far too many accidents, spills and oil train derailments from the oil fields to the refineries that could be reduced via a pipeline. Two, when Canada does send oil to our refineries, we add value to it. That's called 'creation of wealth', Mr. Trump. That would happen here in this country. Three, Trump seemingly overlooks the creation of well paying jobs in building and maintaining the pipeline, the refinery jobs and all the ancillary businesses along the way.

I'm glad Trump favors building the Keystone XL extension. I just wish he would do a little more homework, so that he would be more knowledgeable about the good thing he's advocating.

It's a very good thing.

Fox News Announces Debate Line Up

The Prime Time line up:

Donald Trump
Jeb Bush
Scott Walker
Mike Huckabee
Ben Carson
Ted Cruz
Marco Rubio
Rand Paul
Chris Christie
John Kasich

The "Kiddie Table" (which may be the far more interesting debate)

Rick Perry
Rick Santorum
Bobby Jindal
Carly Fiorina
Lindsey Graham
George Pataki
Jim Gilmore

I'd like to see at least 50% of both the first and second tier candidates gone before Thanksgiving.

Jim Gilmore, 17th Official GOP Candidate for President

Trump Slam Kiss of Death?

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Bernie Sanders Adopts Winning Campaign Logo

...according to Bernie's new campaign manager, Bill Cosby. "This will bring in the voters," Cosby said.

An Open Letter to Trump Supporters: Stick a Fork in Him, He's Done

I am no Trump fan, but I have generally given him the benefit of the doubt, but I doubt no longer. Trump from 2008:

"Bush has been so bad. Maybe the worst president in this history of this country. He has been so incompetent, so bad, so evil, that I don't think any Republican could have won"

Does this guy's judgment match your own? Or when, in his estimation, George Bush attacked Iraq

"...just because he wanted to do it"

But wait! There's more! To Greta Van Sustern:

His (Obama's) speech was great last night. I thought it was inspiring in every way. And, hopefully he's going to do a great job. But the way I look at it, he cannot do worse than Bush.

It may sound trite, Donald, but,

"You're Fired!"

At the risk of piling on, Trump is also the 'rodeo clown' who said of Charles Krauthammer, whose books the Donald has not read, perhaps, because they have insufficient pictures?

(Krauthammer’s) “a totally overrated person that dislikes me personally. I’ve never met him. He’s a totally overrated guy, doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

"Not Just the Same Old Lard!"

Geaux Bobby!

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Hillary Clinton and the Minimum Wage - A Flashback

Hillary Clinton, on her second annual presidential announcement speech, reiterated the same tired liberal arguments about raising the minimum wage. It seems that Hillary has not learned the lesson she ought to have, when she was running in 2008. There's a very telling story Hillary told on the campaign trail in 2008, about a child whose waitress mother got a raise in the minimum wage, but got her hours cut back, so she wasn't any better off. I've posted this before, but it doesn't sound as if Hillary has learned anything since then (other than how to wipe a server!):

On April 3rd 2008, Hillary Clinton was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where she told this anecdote: (Cafe Hayek still has the transcript)

I was in Indianapolis the other day and I was shaking hands after I spoke. And there was this young boy about eleven years old and he’s trying to tell me something—you know the crowd was yelling—so I leaned over and he said, "You know, my mom makes minimum wage and even though it went up, her hours were cut. So we’re not making any more money. Can you help her?"

At which point Hillary launched into platitudes and bromides about fixing the economy, 'we can do better', etc., but she overlooked a very important lesson: When the cost of anything goes up, you tend to buy less of it. The employer of this little boy's mother did not have a bottomless stash of cash to dip into every time the government decrees that his employees are worth more than the market warrants. To hold expenses in check, the employer reduced the number of hours worked at the new inflated wage.

Liberals presuppose (and deceptively preach to the low information voter), that if the minimum wage is raised, those making minimum raise will automatically receive more money, which translates into more buying power, when in reality, not only will they be receiving dollars made less valuable through inflation (and perhaps taxed at a higher rate), but there is absolutely no guarantee that their hours will not be reduced, as happened with this woman, or eliminated entirely through layoffs.

Others (unions come to mind) will compare what they were making above minimum wage and insist that their wages be ratcheted up, too, or they will see themselves as taking a de facto pay cut.

Of course, when this happens, and it will, liberals will blame greedy business owners and corporations for the sin of wanting to make enough profit to remain competitive and keep the employees that they have on the payroll.

Paying more for the same goods or services is by definition inflationary. After the minimum wage increases ripple through the rest of the economy, poor people making minimum wage will be no better off than they were before, and possibly worse. 

Compassion, don'tcha know?

Exotic Animals of the 2016 Campaign

Rand Paultry, Isolationus Chipofftheblockicus, is a bantam, mostly known for stewing. The word "paultry" comes from the French/Norman word poule, itself derived from the Latin word 'pullout', which echoes its distinctive call. (Not to be mistaken as "paltry", which describes its contribution to modern politics.)

Although the hen is not a prolific layer, the Rand Paultry has been known to lay a rather large egg from time to time. In captivity, the species does not require its wings to be clipped, as it seldom strays far from the coop or henhouse. The Rand Paultry is extremely near sighted, and is often at risk, seemingly oblivious to any predator not yet actually inside its yard. Oddly, that does not prevent him from viciously attacking his own.

Rand Paultry aficionados deny any flavor of isolationism, insisting that it's more like non-intervention, but it still tastes like chicken!




Exotic Animals: Collect the whole set!

Chris Crizzlie
Joe Bydena
Donald Trumpetfish
Bernie Panders
Hillarymadillo
Mike Huccameleon
Jeb Bushbaby
Martin O'Mallard

There, Hillary! Fixed it For You!